Two-thirds of underwater search done, no sign of MH370

Two-thirds of the planned underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been completed, with no signs so far of the jet, Australian officials said on Monday.

As many as 10 military aircraft and 11 ships are taking part in the search for the aircraft, which was carrying 239 people when it vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No debris from the plane has been found despite an intense air and sea search and hopes centre on the underwater autonomous vehicle (UAV) Bluefin-21 finding wreckage on the Indian Ocean seabed.

“Bluefin-21 has searched approximately two thirds of the focused underwater search area to date,” the Joint Agency Coordination Centre managing the search said in a statement.
“No contacts of interest have been found to date.”

The torpedo-shaped sonar scanning device has so far made eight missions to the vast depths of the ocean with no result, despite exceeding it’s operating limit of 4,500 metres (15,000 feet).